Hamer Monaco Super Pro

A little bit bigger body than a Les Paul. Chambered.

Sounds better than a Les Paul. In Fact I got rid of all my Les Pauls and purchased another Hamer Pro. I mean this thing kicks ***!

Action is bar none. Best playing action I ever put my hands on. Very nice finish in detail.

Been giggng with the guitars for over twi years and would not go back to a Lea Paul.

Good guys hands down.

If it were sotolen, I would hunt the son of ***** down and kill em, wait, I would get my guitar back first, then kill em.

2005 HAMER Monaco Super Pro. Jazzburst like tobacco burst except with a hint of burgandy tint. Ultimate flame top, N A M display guitar. Jumbo frets, Duncan custom,n - cc,b pickups. Lightweight around 7.5lb. or so.

This Hamer sounds very thick and full for hard rock to jazz clean sounds. Sounds like a small acoustic unplugged. Warm tone with long sustain, the larger body helps balance out the brightness of the maple top. The custom neck pickup is a bit too hot and I believe a ceramic magnet, turning volume down helps but I plan on someday changing out this overwound neck pickup along with the ratty sounding tone capacitor. I can get nice open chording and complex clean tones out of my Hamer due to the body being hollowed out. The custom custom bridge pickup does work very well with the hollowed out body and sounds very full even with alot of gain for hard rock. My MSP is capable of woody sounds and hard rock, it is a great sounding guitar and goes well with my wide range of sounds. This is a unique guitar that I've been enjoying since I bought it a few months ago.

This is the best set up guitar I have owned or played! Perfectly cut bone polished nut, laser straight neck, very high quality rosewood fretboard with perfectly installed frets, AAA fit & finish. The body and neck are nice looking wood and the laquer finish is done perfectly. No, this is not a new Gibson. Hamer was at the top of their game when they made my Super Pro.

This MSP is very solid, features long neck tenon joint making this a lively and strong guitar. The only noise or rattle was the bridge pup wire dangling loose so I stuffed it around another wire. The 2 months I've owned it the neck is still straight and stable and has required ZERO adjustments, my Gibson 03RO Brazilian rosewood fretboard Les Paul requires adjustments every week and I can never rely on it being in tune for 5 minutes. I sold my 03RO LP shortly after I bought this Hamer. I'm certain Hamer uses better and more seasoned wood than Gibson is using on the overpriced and overhyped holy grail bla bla Historic LP's.

My favorite Les Paul and the only 1 I own is a 1994 standard Premium Plus 2 piece birdseye maple top, the perfect hard rock guitar. I was going to buy a LP Elegant for a woodier more open tone but decided to try the Hamer MSP and I'm completely pleased with my purchase. The MSP has more bottom and clarity than the 2 Artist guitars I used to own and the sturdy neck joint along with the perfectly shaped neck makes playing more enjoyable. This Hamer is a keeper.

My Superpro is one of the earlier ones that shipped with a Pearly Gates bridge pickup. It had the Custom neck pickup. Interesting features include the 25 1/2" scale length, hollowed out mahogany body, no f-holes, and controls mounted through the pickup cavities so that there's a completely clear piece of mahogany when you turn it over - no control cavity. Also has these "custom taper" volume and tone pots. Reading on the web I found an interview where I learned that the intention with these volume controls is to leave them around 8 or 9 and flip them to 10 to solo. In other words, there's a large jump in output between about 8.5 and 10. I can see where they're coming from, but I'm not crazy about the concept. It makes fine adjustments a bit difficult when running both pickups together (which I do a lot.) Similarly, the tone control does almost nothing between 5 and 10. I think the idea is just to restrict the range of travel to make it easier to adjust - This works OK, I think. I'm giving an "8" for having the mostly the right features and nothing more than I need.

I play mostly clean, mostly on the neck or both pickups. The tone I'm looking for is a "woody" sort of jazz tone. I'm not talking about muddy, tone-rolled-back-to-3 tone. I like to hear an acoustic-like attack with a strong upper midrange (that's the woodiness I'm talking about.) I have found that the Monaco really pushes this sound no matter what pickups I put in it, so I like that very much. I liked the Seymour Duncan Custom neck pickup OK and the Pearly Gates bridge very much. But the Custom/Pearly Gates combo didn't really make it for me. Either pickup soled sounded pretty good. I really like the hollow, phase-cancelled sort of tone you can get from two similarly-voice humbuckings and the stock combo didn't have that at all. I figured I liked the bridge PG well enough so I got a neck PG to go with it. That is a killer combination in this guitar. The brighter edge from the Pearly Gates just works perfectly with the woody resonances of the Monaco - Kind of a "snappy" attack. The bridge alone is nice and nasal without the being honky. I feel like I could play anything I want to on this guitar.

I'm giving it a "7" because I think almost everyone who plays this with the Custom in the neck slot will eventually want something different there. I can't figure out why they dropped the Pearly Gates bridge in favor of the Custom-Custom. The Pearly Gates set (neck AND bridge) is a great combination for the Monaco.

Well, this is very close to the top in terms of guitars that I've owned (that would include several high-end instruments and lots of mid-priced ones.) It's nearly perfectly constructed. The finish just glows. The one-piece of mahogany for the body really looks like someone took time to select it - nice even grain pattern and density. The maple top isn't exacly "book-matched" as I think of that term - but nothing I see these days is truly book-matched. Frankly, I'm not that into the flamey tops, and this one is extremely flamey. It's easily equivalent to a "10-top." Probably more like an 11, based on what I see lately.

This is a rock-solid guitar.

I have been playing for 40 years now. I've owned a bunch of stuff over the years. My electric guitars today include an ES 335, ES 135, Heritage Millennium H-155, G&L S-500, and two Music Man Axis Sports. My main amps are a Mesa Boogie Mark III and a Studio 22+.

I was looking for something to use instead of my '83 ES 335, which weighs a ton and is starting to show some wear. I like the 25 1/2 inch scale length and what sounds more like a semihollow than a merely chambered guitar. I like that this is Hamer's OWN design - It doesn't look like something else. I also like the "no f-holes" look. It looks like a solid body that should weigh a ton but it's very light. I don't like the pickup selection for the stock configuration, but that's not such a big deal. I'm undecided about the custom taper of the controls. I think I would prefer a linear taper to every control on every guitar I own.

2004 Custom Order with Dunlop 6100 Jumbo frets. I also ordered this in the Tobacco Sunburst finish that is just beautiful on this guitar. Everything else is standard for this model. I received it right from the factory so nobody got to get their grubby little hands on it before me. The custom taper knobs are just awesome on this thing, 0 through 9 is a steady increase in volume/tone and 9-10 is sudden "boost"....great feature.

I (try to) play a lot of different styles of music and this guitar sounds great at everything. Some folks have said they didn't like the Seymour Duncan Custom and Custom Custom pickups but I don't agree. Along with the semi-hollow body, this guitar can create really beautiful clean tones all the way up to full throttle humbucking tones. The neck pickup has a lot of midrange and produces a very "sweet" tone. The bridge pickup has a very tight tone that suits Blues, Rock, Metal etc. All my friends and fellow musicians that hear it always comment on how great this guitar sounds.

This guitar came setup PERFECTLY from the factory, the action was great but I tend to put mine a little higher than most people so I adjusted it up a tad. The top is AAA quality (Hamers standard) and blows away most Gibson AAAA tops. The intonation is dead perfect, I don't know how Hamer does their setups but the intonation was about as perfect as you can get on a standard setup. Hamers fit and finish are legendary and this guitar is no exception. My big Dunlop 6100 Jumbo frets were polished to an awesome shine and smoothness. This guitar feels incredible when you pick it up. Very inspiring.

While I know this guitar would gig with the best of them, it's sooo beautiful that I would be scared to take it anywhere that it might get scratched or dinged. Hamer used top quality parts so I have NO doubt that my kids will be unheriting this baby.

Hamer is currently building my next custom guitar, an Artist Custom with a BirdsEye Maple top and they sent me pictures of a couple billets of wood to pick out my top and sent me an in progress build shot before it got painted. They have been treating me like I am a rockstar or something. I have never experienced this treatment from another guitar maker...ever! Also out of all my Hamer USA guitars (I own 5 of them) I have never had to send one back for repair but I have no doubt that Hamer would have my back if necessary.

I have been playing guitar for over 16 years now and can finally afford great gear. I am convinced that Hamer builds the best guitars out there...period! This 2004 Monaco SuperPro is no exception. The tone and playability offered makes Gibson look like novices. If this guitar was stolen, while I'm sure Hamer could build me another one, "I would be prepared to scour da' earth for this mutha-f'er"

The features have been covered in detail by the other posts. Let's just say it has what it needs...

I hated the stock pickups - duncan custom and custom custom. To me these pickups were just so wrong for this guitar that it is silly. I replaced with a set of WCR crossroads, and now it sounds outstanding.

Just FYI, the pots and jack need to be pulled through the bridge pickup hole to be accessed - there is no back cover. Not a problem if you know what you are doing.

I am downgrading this rating for the duncans, but the rest of my review will be "post pickup switch>"

Once the pickups were switched, awesome. Like a slightly brigher and more complex Les Paul. The longer scale adds more definition to everything. A great tone.

As good as anything I have ever seen. Perfect setup and finish. No flaws, and a beautiful top and finish.

As good as others of it's kind. Very solid.

Lifetime warranty.

I've been playing for 35 years, and unfortunately I just discovered Hamer and bought 3 of them. I have paid much more money for much less guitar in the past. These are beautiful handmade guitars, and very reasonable for what you get. Hamer seems to be building what Gibson pretends they are building, if you catch my drift. A premium product at a standard price.

I have two Monoco Super Pros! (And six other Hamers.) I have an '02 and a '03 and both are very similar in tone and feel. These guitars remind me a little of the Gibson ES 335, but the scale length of the Monoco is longer: 25 1/2" compared to 24 3/4" of the Gibson. This gives the Monoco's bass response a little more depth and authority, and the tone is less nasal than the 335's I've owned. The one thing I don't care for is the use of a Duncan Custom as a neck pickup. IMO, it's just to strong a pickup and at high volumes the tone gets a little woofy for my tastes. I am a Seymour Duncan Dealer, and I love the Duncan Custom Custom bridge pickup these come with but I changed the neck pickup in my '02 to a Duncan Seth Lover and the neck pickup in my '03 to a Duncan Antiquity. Much clearer, more transparant tone from the neck pickup now and when the two pickups are combined the balance is much better. The Custom kind of overpowered the CC...now these guitars sound "right". However, I plan to change the bridge Custom Custom in my '03 to a Duncan 59B soon. That way both guitars will have a more distinct personality from each other...and I've always loved the 59B for more of a early 60's Gibson tone.

I liked the tone of the stock Duncan Custom neck pickup at low volumes but not when my amps are cranked up...at cranked volumes the tone got a little woofy and dark. The Custom is simply not a neck pickup: Seymour designed it for the bridge position and I think Hamer made a mistake using it in the neck position. I much prefer the Duncan Seth Lover and Duncan Antiquity neck pickups I have in them now. The Custom Custom bridge pickup is fat and thick and has alot of mids. It is bright enough but not overly bright. It's easy to get everything from great Van Halenish tones to great Jeff Beck Truth-era/Freeway Jam-era tones. At 14.4K, it's my favotite "hot" bridge humbucker and at about 8.75K, the 59B I plan on putting in my other Super Pro is my favorite "vintage" bridge humbucker. I play mostly blues and jazzy blues and go for a tone that blends BB King, Albert King and Albert Collins with Robben Ford, Jeff Beck and Cream-era Eric Clapton. I have a small collection of vintage Fender and Marshall amps...no reissues: 51 Super, 59 Bassman, 59 Deluxe, 62 Deluxe, 66 Deluxe Reverb, 70 Marshall 50 watt, 74 Super Reverb, etc. After changing the neck pickup to a Seth Lover I can get a clean, acoustic tone from the neck pickup for jazzy chords and a hot, thick, "British Blues" tone from the Custom Custom bridge pickup. I prefer the tone and playability of my Monocos to my '00 Gibson Les Paul Historic 59...and the Gibson has Tom Holmes humbuckers! It's a great, great guitar...but my Monocos are better.

Both guitars are gorgeous flametops and came perfectly set up. I sometimes wish the Hamer finish wasn't quite so thick...if they have a shortcoming it's the finish. They get compared to PRS guitars alot and I think PRS guitars tend to have a little thinner finish. But the Hamer finish is gorgeous...tho maybe 5% thicker compared to a PRS. As far as playability goes: 10! As far as fit goes: 10! As far as finish goes: 9.

This ax should last 100 years or more!

Nice folks at Hamer!

I've been playing since 1963.

If lost or stolen would I replace it with the same guitar? YES...as mentioned: I own two already!

The only complaint I have is the stock neck pickup is a little to strong. After changing it to a Seth Lover or Antiquity I couldn't be happier.

Other than that, I wouldn't add a thing. Wait a minute, that's not quite true.

I did change the stock stop zinc tailpiece to a featherweight aluminum tailpiece like Gibson used in the 50's. (Gibson switched to zinc about 1962 and continues to use zinc on most guitars to this day.) The featherweight aluminum tailpiece opened up the tone a little and gives the guitar a little rounder, less steely tone. I'd recommend this change for all Les Pauls and Hamer that use a stop tailpiece as the tailpiece is zinc in almost all guitars made from '62 on.

2003 model apparently this guitar was made for the NAMM show at Nashville and was sold to me as a used guitar. It is perfect and in mint condition when I got it (another bargain!) and frankly looked as though it had come straight from the factory. Single cutaway design with carved maple top and honduran mahogany body. Solid maple top and large sound chambered wings and a solid centre semi-hollow body design with no F holes. My guitar is the Jazzburst finish and I originally thought that this was very similar in colour to my Monaco Elite (Tobacco Sunburst), but when you put the two together you notice the difference. Seymour Duncan pickups and of course finished with the 14 coats etc. I won?t bother with the rest, as you should be able to get the rest from other reviewers or from Hamers site.

I play a mixture of music, jazz, blues, rock, funk and anything that pays the bill. I use Fender amps ? Twins, Blues De Villes, Pro Juniors and also Mesa Boogies Nomads. Have to agree with one of the reviewers insofar that this guitar sounds fantastic acoustically. I have played this guitar without plugging in on a number of occasions and just enjoyed it. When plugged in, it is just a different animal altogether. I won?t go over old ground as a number of people have already commented in previous reviews, but as I also own a Monaco Elite I will let you know how they compare. The Elite is a superb guitar to play and gives me everything that I want, clean sounds are not the Elite?s forte and you can get some amazing tones and sustain out of it and will very easily get you some superior Gibson Les Paul tones with better note definition. The Super Pro is able to give you a clean sound, particularly on the bridge. I am finding that although the pick-ups are the same on both guitars they do sound different. On the Elite they ?hold? the volume and are balanced no matter which one you switch to ? neck or bridge. On the Super Pro there is a loss of volume between the neck and bridge, until you dial in enough on the bridge and set the tone control down to 5/6. I get some very nice jazzy tones from the neck pick up and enjoy this a great deal ? Joe Pass, George Benson, and Wes to name one or two. I am finding that the guitar is great for acoustic-electric/jazz work and that this is my favourite guitar to do my finger picking stuff (jazz style) and is very sensitive and dynamic. If I need other sounds then I choose another of my Hamers or other guitars (Strats, PRS etc).

Again I have to be cautious and can only give this a 10 rating (mindful of the fact that I also own in total 4 Hamer guitars ? Monaco Elite, Custom Studio and Artist Custom). All of them are superbly constructed and built. When I received this guitar (and bearing in mind that it was supposed to be used) it was in perfect condition, in fact it was in tune!!. This having being shipped from US to the UK where I live. I have not had the action altered, just like my other Hamers. All my Hamers have 10-46 strings and the guy who looks after all of my guitars is constantly amazed as to how well they are perfectly intonated and never need adjusting. The finish on this guitar (as on my other Hamers) is faultless and it looks, feels and is a custom built guitar. One of my friends owns a 1966 Gibson 335 and he loves to play the Super Pro because of its action and sound. You would be hard pressed to find anything wrong with this guitar.

So I have given this top marks and why? Good question I bought this guitar some 3 months ago and have not had the courage or nerve to gig with it. I have mostly played this at home, studio or with friends and have allowed only the privileged few to get near this guitar. I use my Custom Studio for most of my live gigs and both my Monaco?s ? Elite and Super Pro are home stricken or only go out with me with heavy security!! I of course have the dilemma of wanting to see what this is like in 10-12 months time or even longer, but bearing in mind that its not going to get much road use I am not sure if I can update this section. One thing that puzzles me is that on the back of the body there are no cover plates or anything for the pick-up selector switch of even the pots, how does anyone get to them? I would hate to be the guy who has to service them!!

I have e-mailed Hamer a couple of times and they have replied very quickly, these were more specific queries that I raised rather than for any problems. I don?t think that I will need customer support but it is nice to know that they are there and will listen and respond.

So why did I buy this guitar and think about doing so from thousands of miles away (I live in the UK). As I said earlier this is my third Hamer acquisition and purely on the basis that I acquired both a Monaco Elite and also the Custom Studio a few months ago I decided (again!!) to risk it and buy the Super Pro, knowing the reputation and build of these guitars. I also took on the reputation of the guys at Acoustic Axis and they have come through. I also wanted to have another guitar that was like a semi-acoustic but not have to pay a great deal. Gibson 335?s are fetching ridiculous prices and for me to get even a Super Pro is impossible in the UK, unless you pay a lot (there is only one dealer in the UK). I cannot praise this guitar and also the Hamer (US) enough. My present stock includes Strat?s, LP?s, SG?s, PRS?s and Hamers and I am fortunate that I have these to choose and play them. Living in the UK means that guitars and nearly everything else is more expensive. So should you buy a Super Pro? The answer should be YES ? it?s a no-brainer. US Hamer guitars are the best-kept secret (and long may it continue). I think you will be very pleased with the purchase and I can say that it is unlikely that you will find a bad one ? can you say that about Gibsons, Fenders and PRS?s? Since purchasing this guitar I have completed the set so to speak and bought a Hamer Artist Custom guitar. I will be giving a review of this one shortly - so watch out for this. You can also see my review of the Monaco Elite and Custom Studio as well.

Mine is a 2002 Super Pro. Totally awesome as far as quality. There is no way you can dispute the quality. If you got a bad one, you got a rare one. These are so beautiful to look at and touch, I went out and bought a Monaco w/bigsby and took out a personal insurance policy on them. Too cool. I have been a Gibson man, but I will put My Hamers up against any Gibson out there in any way except in getting distortion and feed back. Gibson is made for that. Anyone reading these reviews knows what the pups are, and the wood, fretboard, etc, so I won't go into that. Just suffice to say that Hamer does not cut corners on electronics, wood, or finish. They are WOW guitars.

You can get any sound you want. The tones are heavy and smooth. Nice. Dial up what you need. I run mine through a Mesa Nomad 55. I can pretty much get what I want. No unwanted noise at all. Not like my Gibson Les Paul. Can't say anything bad about it. I'll tell you this, it's not for sale.

The action is smooth. The set up is great. The top, the frets, the binding, all perfect. Its as smooth as a baby's butt.

I can't imagine that I would ever take one of these to a gig. I would buy a Hamer Studio and use my Les Paul Studio for gigging. A man has to have his beaters and his collectors. By the way, strap locks included from the factory. Just another small attention to detail by Hamer, and appreciated by me because I just had to repair the neck on my Les Paul Studio due to a strap coming off. Man, was that stupid. Live and learn.

Haven't had to deal with them and I bet I won't have the need.

This is an axe that has to be replaced if stolen, broken, damaged, lost, or even touched by the wrong person.

This review concerns my new late 2002 Hamer Monaco SuperPro, made in the Hamer USA Connecticut facility. It's a chambered, solidtop, single-cutaway design, larger than a Les Paul (but much lighter at 7.5 lbs.), with the longer 25.5" scale length. Neck shape is between the 'ballbat' and "slim-taper" Gibson standards, and disappears when playing...it's that nice.
The body is an extremely nice chunk of Mahogany, routed out inside and capped with a vicious hand-carved Flame Maple top, perfectly bookmatched and swathed in subtly striped Italian celluloid binding, as is the rosewood fretboard and mahogany headstock. The fretboard is just slightly wide, which suits the long scale (and the larger persons who gravitate to it). The whole thing is covered in the justifiably legendary fourteen coats of nitrocellulose lacquer. The 'Victory' position markers are expertly set and made of real mother-of-pearl, as is the logo on the headstock.
The hardware is also of superior grade, arriving with chrome Schaller non-locking tuners, chrome tune-o-matic bridge and stop-tailpiece. The strap buttons are set into custom routs and cushioned
with rubber washers to reduce shocks to the instrument, I guess. They're oddly impressive as strap buttons go. Control knobs are amber 'bonnets', and the pickup-selector switch has a yellow-orange tip, which is a breath of fresh air in the fairly static world of guitar-appointment design. (Though they shouldn't use them on their indigo-finished models).
The pickups are the unbelievable Seymour Duncan Custom (neck) and
Custom Custom (bridge) combo. They aren't active pickups but they ain't quite passive either. More on those later.
Included were a very nice TKL case, black, with gold hardware, and black faux-fur inside. Inside said case was a combination trussrod wrench and Philips-head screwdriver.

How does it sound? How do you want it to sound? With two volumes and one overall tone control linked to the three-way switch, it goes from gorgeous jazz tones to screaming distortion with alacrity. I play mostly rock and blues, through a Line6 POD. The only thing it doesn't do is Strat-type single-coil sounds, but anybody with a Superpro probably has one of those anyway. (I figure Hamer may have experimented with coil-tapping and disapproved of the single-coil settings for one reason or another, probably finding the chambering left them a bit nasal, but that's merely an educated surmision. They're probably just going to offer the option later to make me buy another one. When I will.)
The guitar is dead quiet, well shielded and cleanly wired with high-grade electronics. The controls cover a well-considered range of both volume and tone. The neck-position humbucker is especially well tuned for this guitar, going from voluptuous to stout to intrafacial,
if I may coin a term. It won't ever have the sheer chunk of a Les Paul, but then it's not SUPPOSED to. This guitar sings where others stomp. (I haven't heard the Monaco Elite but I'm betting it will outpace the Gibson in every respect, largely because of these Duncans). I hear treble fequencies much better than I do lows, but this pickup offers tones I find much more manifestly useful
than on any other guitar I've owned or played.
The bridge pickup is even hotter, of course, and I find I like
its tone set around 2 or 3 for the first time in my life. It seems to go from muted to raw to clean to howling to stinging, and what else is there? There's tons of cool tones waiting to be found hiding in the myriad tone-versus-volume ratios. On top of that, you can pinch a harmonic virtually anywhere this guitar--both pickups are very sensitive.
I like it very much.

This whole guitar screams attention to detail. When I opened the case I think I had some kind of epiphany, or a cerebral hemorrhage.
This guitar is jaw-droppingly beautiful. The top is a nice wide tigerstripe maple with almost no dropout areas. I have been showing it to anyone who will look. Strangers on the street. The Amberburst finish simply cannot be described or photographed to any satisfaction-Hamer's finish people are simply ungodly. This instrument just begs to be spotlit.
The color is really better described as a tangerineburst, but nicely
toned back from orange. The secret is in the layering of clearcoats
and floating color into higher layers that gives it major depth with
total clarity. (I have a degree in Fine Arts and have been in the sign business for nearly twenty years, so I know purty stuff when I see it.)
There are simnply no flaws on my guitar. The binding is perfect.
Fret-ends are lovingly ensconsed. It is the exact same thickness everywhere. Whoever scraped it is a master.
The setup was nearvana-- I actually raised the action a bit, and backed the pickups away from the strings a hair as well as I thought the magnets were hastening decay a tad. The intonation is astounding everywhere on the board. I haven't heard a Feiten-equipped guitar
but Hamer clearly is using some kind of tempering that just blows all the guitars I have out of the water.
There are absolutely no buzzes, rattles, looseness, gritchiness,
sharp edges, scratches, flat spots, particles, squeaks, file marks,
glue problems or ANYTHING that plagues lesser guitars.

I do not play out...never wanted to. I have no doubt, though, that every precaution against failure has been addressed in the design and manufacture of this instument. It is a monument to machine/sculpture. I however question the ethics of anyone who would
carry one out onto a rock stage. Something could touch it.

The guitar carries a Limited Lifetime warranty, but after two years the customer pays a labor rate. I am pretty sure it will outlive me by a long ways, and look better the whole time.
I have pestered Hamer/Kaman (parent company) on a couple of occasions and have had e-mails answered in good time.

My father always had Bluegrass instruments around...and His father
built banjos and dulcimers and such. I'm now 43 and have been playing for over twenty of those years fairly steadily. I've owned a a Gibson L-6S, an SG Junior, a shopbuilt Strat, an original
'80's Schecter Pete Townshend Telecaster, a late '50's Vega slimline hollowbody, a FretLight teaching guitar, a Gary Moore Les Paul, a
Gibson ES-135 and just got a Hamer Newport Pro two weeks before I got the reviewed guitar.
I bought this guitar strictly on research...I never saw it in person until it got here. All I had to go on was Hamer's reputation and a rather bad webphoto under fluorescent light. Everyone thought I was nuts. Once here, though, I was proved brilliant by proxy.
The only question I should've asked was, "Can you ship Overnight?"
I love everything about this guitar...size, shape, sound, color, fit and finish. It is ME.
I have been designing electric guitars as a sideline for about nine years, though no one in the business has seen them. In this endeavour I have researched absolutely every nuance of every design, material and process that goes into making guitars.
Hamer is the only company I would ever offer my designs to. (The ones that fit them, of course.) I compared this guitar to all others. Only six or seven companies made the short list, and after years of weighing my options I've bought two Hamers in a month and couldn't be more ecstatic. I scoured the web for prices and availability, and when this one popped up I had to have it. Someone
had ordered my guitar from Hamer and apparently either refused it for some unimaginable reason, or weaseled on the bucks or died or something--I don't care, really, I got a $3,000 guitar for less than half of that!!!
It might be nice to have the coil-tap option, but this gitbox can get real spanky clean without it, and I could always have a Luthier do it, if I could find one I'd trust to breathe near it.
Honestly, the other night when I brought it home, I sat and stared at it for a good two hours, enraptured. After a couple days of playing and tweaking it, I'm ready to sell a couple other guitars.
If this guitar were ever stolen I'd have my insurance company on the line so fast your head would spin. Then I'd be on the road, hunting down the bastard that took it. Some lines you just do not cross.

Just want to update my previous rview. I went back to the original p/ups (seymoure duncans custom/custom,custom ) wonderful sounding p/ups. After gigging w/ this guitar for the last 2 months in many different situations. And through different amps, mesa boogie mk 3 simul-class. cyber twin,marshall jcm 900 4101. It really mates best w/ the boogie, something about midrange in both amp guitar that just go together, very rich w/ nice overtones.